Staking Facilities

Staking Facilities is a staking firm from Munich, Germany. It runs validators, the servers that check transactions and keep a blockchain safe. Its best-known one is a large Solana validator that took no commission on staking rewards in late 2026. You can stake SOL with it and earn rewards while the SOL stays in your own wallet.

The firm began in 2017. It owns its servers and network links and does not rent from a cloud host. It now also runs the validator for the Solflare wallet.

Staking Facilities calls itself "independent and bootstrapped", which means it has no outside investors. Its website showed over $1 billion staked in November 2026.

How Staking Facilities runs validators on its own hardware

Staking Facilities runs its validators on servers it owns, linked by its own network. A validator votes on each new block. Token holders lend it their stake and share the rewards it earns.

You keep hold of your tokens. When you stake SOL with Staking Facilities, the SOL sits in a stake account that your wallet controls. The firm never holds your keys.

Owning the hardware is the main pitch. The website says the firm controls "every layer", from bare-metal servers to more than 8,000 km of private fibre. Marinade's page for the main validator places it in Frankfurt. An older Solana Foundation feature on the firm said it used custom-built servers in a Tier 3+ data centre.

The firm also holds a security certificate. Staking Facilities says it was certified to ISO 27001:2022 in October 2023, after an audit by TÜV Rheinland. ISO 27001 is a standard for how a company manages information security. It checks the firm's processes. It is not a code audit of any program.

Staking Facilities also sells custom block building. It will tune how its validator fills blocks for a client. The website pitches this at institutions that want "guaranteed inclusion" and traders who want fast execution. It lists no prices.

Staking Facilities MEV validator: commission, MEV rewards and Firedancer

The main Staking Facilities validator on Solana charged 0% commission on staking rewards in November 2026. Wallets list it as "Staking Facilities 🔥". It has been live since September 2021, per Marinade. In November 2026 it ranked ninth among Solana validators by stake on the firm's SPEX dashboard.

A zero rate does not mean the validator keeps nothing. The zero covers the new SOL the network pays to stakers. Validators also earn tips from traders (MEV) and fees from the blocks they make. Marinade shows a "take rate" that covers all of these, and for this validator it is above zero. Check the take rate on Marinade before you stake.

The validator runs Firedancer, the Solana client built by Jump Crypto, with an add-on called Harmonic that builds blocks, per Marinade. A client is the software a validator runs. When the network uses more than one client, a single bug is less likely to break it. SPEX also marks the validator as connected to DoubleZero 2Z$0.023-0.9%, a private fibre network for blockchains.

Staking Facilities votes in Solana governance with the stake you lend it. In August 2026 it said it voted yes on all three proposals in Solana's first binding governance round. One of them, SGP-0002, speeds up the fall in new SOL issued. It passed but is not yet active. We covered how that vote ended. The firm said Solana was "overpaying" for security through issuance, and that the change "might be rough on smaller validators".

Staking Facilities runs the new Solflare validator

Since late October 2026, Staking Facilities has run the servers for the Solflare wallet's new Solana validator. Solflare holds the main key and gets the rewards. Staking Facilities runs the machines with day-to-day keys. Solflare can swap those keys out.

The move came after a security incident. On 26 October 2026 the keys to Solflare's old validator were compromised at its last provider, Blockdaemon, Solflare's staking update says. No staked SOL was lost. A validator's keys cannot move the SOL staked with it. But rewards on the old validator stopped, and Solflare asked users to move. We covered Solflare's in-app move and its offer to cover lost rewards.

Solflare founder Vidor said the new setup was, as far as he knew, a first on Solana. The firm that runs it holds neither the main key nor the rewards. He said the Alpenglow upgrade made that split possible. He and Staking Facilities built the Solana Beach explorer together in 2020. He called them "the people you call at midnight". Staking Facilities replied that the setup lets Solflare keep full control of its funds.

For you, this is a second way to have Staking Facilities run your stake. Stake with the Solflare validator and Solflare sets the fee and takes the validator's cut. Stake with "Staking Facilities 🔥" and the firm does both.

SuperteamDE x Staking Facilities public goods validator

Staking Facilities runs a second, smaller Solana validator with the German arm of Superteam. Its name is "SuperteamDE x Staking Facilities | Public Goods Validator". Its listing says it is "dedicated to funding public good projects and initiatives".

This one is not free. It takes a cut of both staking rewards and MEV tips, per QuickNode's page for it. That cut is how it raises money for good causes. The page puts it in Munich. The listing does not name the projects it funds. Check the fee before you stake.

Does Staking Facilities have a liquid staking token? sfSOL

A small liquid staking token called sfSOL, listed as "Staking Facilities Staked SOL", runs on Sanctum CLOUD$0.044+0.6%'s stake pool program. A liquid staking token is a token you get back for staked SOL, which you can trade or use in DeFi while it earns. The pool delegates to a single validator, and its description mentions the firm's German data centres.

The pool is far smaller than the main validator, and the Staking Facilities website does not list it. You can check its fees and size on our page for the sfSOL pool. A pool this small may be hard to sell out of in size.

Solana Beach, SPEX, the Solana Performance Hub and DoubleZero

Staking Facilities builds more for Solana than its own validators. It has made an explorer and a validator site, and it runs a shared server hub and fibre links.

Solana Beach is a site where you can look up any Solana wallet or transaction. Staking Facilities built it in 2020 with Vidor, who founded Solflare. The Solana Foundation's feature called it the most used Solana explorer at the time.

SPEX is a free site that ranks Solana validators. A Staking Facilities engineer built it. It shows each validator's stake, rewards, tips, votes and software. You can use it to check any validator, the firm's rivals too. The firm also ran a live Alpenglow tracker when that upgrade went live in October 2026.

The Solana Performance Hub is a shared site in Frankfurt. Other teams can run their validators there. Staking Facilities launched it on 6 July 2026. It offers fast servers and quick access to new blocks. Independent validators that qualify get their own server for free, the firm said.

Staking Facilities also runs links for DoubleZero. In July 2026 it said it had done so for a year. It also said it would close its Warsaw and Madrid sites to focus on Frankfurt.

In late October 2026 the firm said it was bringing its gear to TheHUB in Tokyo. It linked the move to on-chain trading and called Tokyo "just the first stop".

Which networks does Staking Facilities support?

Staking Facilities listed six live networks on its website in November 2026: Solana, Ethereum, Sui, Monad, Chainlink and DoubleZero. The firm says it does not serve every chain. It picks ones it rates, then holds and stakes their tokens itself.

On Ethereum, the firm runs validators for Lido, a large staking pool. In July 2026 it said it would support the move to Lido's Core Upgrade.

The list has changed over the years. Check the website before you assume a network is on it.

Staking Facilities Ventures and its $25M fund

Staking Facilities Ventures is the firm's venture arm. It launched in October 2021 with $25 million of the firm's own money, Blockworks reported. The aim was to back young teams at the seed stage, not just big networks.

You can see that backing in a few funding rounds. Obol, an Ethereum staking project, named it as a backer in 2021. It joined a 2022 round for Vybe Network, a Solana data firm, BetaKit reported. Later that year it co-led the seed round for Elusiv, the Solana privacy team that went on to build Arcium.

Who should stake with Staking Facilities?

Staking Facilities suits SOL holders who want plain staking with a big, long-running validator that charged 0% commission in November 2026. It also suits funds. They get a named firm in Europe with a security certificate, direct access to the team, and custom block building if they need it.

It is a weaker fit in three cases:

• You want to spread stake to small validators. The main validator is one of the largest on Solana.
• You want a liquid staking token to use across DeFi. The firm's sfSOL exists but is small.
• You want prices up front for custom work. The website lists none.

Staking with it works like any other stake. Open a wallet that lets you stake. Search the list for "Staking Facilities". Then pick how much SOL to stake. You can look up validators by commission and uptime on Solana Compass first. Our wallet-by-wallet guide walks through the steps in Phantom, Solflare, Backpack and Ledger.

Is Staking Facilities safe? Risks for delegators

Staking Facilities never holds your SOL, and Solana has no slashing, so the firm cannot move or lose your tokens. The risks lie in missed rewards, fee changes and how much stake sits in one place.

Downtime costs you rewards. If the validator stops voting, your stake earns nothing for that time. Solflare's case in October 2026 shows how bad this can get. When its old operator's keys were compromised, rewards stopped until stakers moved. Marinade's page logs each validator's recent incidents, so check it before you stake.

A lot of stake sits near it. About a third of all Solana stake was in Germany in November 2026, per Marinade. More than a quarter was in Frankfurt, where this validator runs. A fault in that region would hit many validators at once.

Fees can change. A validator can raise its commission at any time, though a change reaches your payouts about two epochs later, which gives you time to move. The 0% rate is a choice, and so is the cut it takes of tips and block fees.

The certificate has limits. ISO 27001 covers how the firm runs its security. It does not test the validator software.

Alternatives to Staking Facilities for staking SOL

The closest rivals are other large staking firms that run Solana validators for funds and the public. On the firm's own SPEX ranking in November 2026, the validators near it by stake included Figment, Helius, Everstake, Kiln and Galaxy. They differ in their fees, in how much MEV they pass on, in where they run, and in which client they use.

If you care most about spreading stake, a small validator does more for the network than a top-ten one. If you want to use your SOL in DeFi while it earns, a liquid staking token does that, and a native stake does not. Our guide to how liquid staking tokens compare covers the main options.

Solana Compass, which publishes this page, also runs a Solana validator and issues its own liquid staking token, compassSOL. That makes us a rival to Staking Facilities for your stake. You can see both on our staking page.

Staking Facilities GmbH: team, Munich base and history

Staking Facilities GmbH began in Munich in 2017. It has run Solana validators since the network's test phase. The Solana Foundation's feature said the team had taken part in the paid test network "since the very first day". The firm had six people then. It now says it has more than 20.

That feature named Wolfgang Leonhart as the founder. It said he had joined the board of the Solana Foundation. It also said the firm helped found a staking working group with the European Blockchain Association.

In May 2026 Staking Facilities named Tomas Eminger as its tech chief (CTO). The firm said it was "building infrastructure for Internet Capital Markets". Solana teams use that phrase for trading and finance on a blockchain.

The firm stays close to the German crypto scene. It backed Solana Summit Germany in Berlin in June. It hosts a yearly meet-up in Munich called Blocktoberfest. At the TUM Blockchain Conference in Munich in late October, one of its team was due to explain how trading bots that profit from price gaps work.